Weather forecast: Sacramento to see a dry weekend, but expect some rain next week
The Sacramento region is in for a dry weekend, but wetter weather will return early next week with a few days of showers, while California mountain ranges could see up to a foot of snow.
The National Weather Service’s Sacramento office is predicting a wet start to next week in Northern California, with a chance of rain showers, thunderstorms and snow at high elevations.
The region on Friday night and early Saturday morning saw limited precipitation in the Valley and in the Sierra Nevada. Sacramento recorded just .13 inches of rain in a 24-hour span, according to the weather service, but there’s more ahead.
The weekend is set to remain dry and relatively cool. Weather service forecast a high of 66 degrees in Sacramento on Sunday, and it could be partly cloudy in the Valley.
Another storm system will begin moving in on Monday and may last through Thursday morning.
“The next storm currently in the Gulf of Alaska will near the area Sunday night and some showers may pop up over the mountains and north end of the valley,” weather service meteorologists wrote in a Saturday forecast discussion. “There will be an increase in shower chances on Monday mainly from around Sacramento northward.”
Rainfall in the Valley and snow over the Sierra Nevada on Monday is expected to stay light, but the storm may intensify somewhat on Tuesday. That’s expected to be the day of heaviest precipitation before the storm starts to break up in scattered showers and lingering snow through Wednesday.
Forecasters suggest that thunderstorms could develop in the Valley north of Interstate 80. These could potentially bring the most severe conditions. They predict that “some larger hail ... nearing an inch or so” could form, along with “funnel clouds and possibly a weak tornado.”
The most likely area for those conditions to develop are north of Chico, according to the weather service.
Over the course of the storm, Sacramento and Chico may see up to a half-inch of rain. Redding and Grass Valley could each see a full inch. Most areas of the northern Sierra Nevada will see between four and eight inches of snow. More severe snowfall is predicted in the state’s northern ranges. Snowfall at Interstate 5 near Mount Shasta could range between eight inches and a full foot. Elevations between 2,000 and 3,500 feet may see snow at some point.